This invention relates to download booths and to wireless downloading of data in public areas.
With the proliferation of wireless and internet-connected devices, such as mobile telephones, laptop computers, tablet PCs and the like, the need to be able to access network services, such as the internet and file servers, whilst on the move is increasing. Modern portable devices comprise various types of wireless connectivity adapters, such as GPRS, 3G, 4G, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi adapters, which enable the device to connect to various public and private networks wirelessly.
A known problem with connecting to wireless pubic mobile telephony or data networks, (such as 3G and 4G networks) is that of cost because data downloads (and uploads) are usually charged to the user in proportion to the amount of data uploaded or downloaded. Thus, it is nowadays increasingly common for users to configure their potable electronic devices such that the various network adapters are used in order of cost and speed. For example, a mobile telephone equipped with 4G, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth network adapters may be configured to attempt to connect via Wi-Fi in preference to 4G, to avoid the high data costs associated with the 4G network. This is especially the case where large data downloads are required, for example, when downloading a 4+Gb feature-length movie file.
Wi-Fi, however, is not ubiquitous, and when out of the home or office, users must often locate a public Wi-Fi “hot spot” to be able to connect to the internet or to a file server. Public Wi-Fi hot spots, however, are often quite densely populated, that is to say, having multiple concurrent users connected to one, or just a few, wireless access points (APs), which can adversely affect download speeds where the available AP bandwidth has to be shared between many users at once. In particular, where users wish to download large data files, the download times, and Wi-Fi drop-out frequency may be unacceptably high in congested areas, and so a need exists for a solution to one or more of the above problems.